As well known, in transporting various glass plates including glass substrates for flat-panel displays (hereinafter simply referred to as FPD) such as a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, an electroluminescence display, and a field emission display, a plurality of glass plates are generally packed on a pallet for packing glass plates (hereinafter simply referred to as pallet) in a state of being piled one upon another and interposing protective sheets, such as inserting paper, between the individual glass plates. Various pallets to be used in packing the glass plates of this type have been proposed, and are roughly classified into a pallet in which a plurality of glass plates are piled and packed in a lie-down posture (approximately horizontal posture), and a pallet in which a plurality of glass plates are piled and packed in an upright posture (approximately vertical posture).
As a specific example of the former pallet in which the glass plates are piled and packed in a lie-down posture, for example, Patent Document 1 mentioned below discloses a pallet configured in such a way that glass plates, while being piled in a horizontal posture on a box-shaped pedestal part having an open top, are placed on the top surface of a base part which has an approximately horizontal surface, and that the periphery of the pedestal part is surrounded with an outer wrapping body fixed to the top surface of the base part. As a specific example of the latter pallet in which the glass plates are piled and packed in an upright posture, on the other hand, for example, Patent Document 2 mentioned below discloses a pallet configured in such a way that a pedestal part mounted on the top surface of a base part which has an approximately horizontal surface supports the bottom side portions of glass plates piled in an upright posture, and that a backside part provided upright on the top surface of the base part and a rear of the pedestal part supports the back side of the glass plates piled in an upright posture.
In general, a glass plate package body of this type (hereinafter simply referred to as package body) which is manufactured by having glass plates piled up and packed is stored in a cargo container at the time the package body is transported. Because loading and unloading of the package body into and from the container are carried out with use of a forklift, the base part of any one of the above-mentioned pallets has a fork insertion portion (opening) provided for insertion of the forks of a forklift (refer to the following Patent Documents 1 and 2).    [Patent Document 1] JP 2005-75366 A    [Patent Document 2] JP 2005-132490 A